Analysis Of The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

In time, the society adapts to the new changes. At the women’s center, when Janine gives her confession, the other handmaids accuse her of being the instigator of her own rape. While the reader would assume that the other handmaids were trying to avoid punishment, looking back Offred sees that “[w]e meant it, which is the bad part” (Atwood 72). So easily, the opinions perpetuated by the government were adapted by the citizens in small ways. Another example of this slight transition in mindsets is when Offred walks through the town with Ofglen and encounters a group of Japanese tourists, and looking at the Japanese women comments that “‘They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this’” (Atwood 28).

While the handmaids in training in the Red Center whisper among themselves when they can get away with it, most do not try drastic measures. However, Moira, a woman whose bravery Offred admires, attempts to escape from the center by pretending to be sick. She is caught and punished for her transgression by having her feet injured. Atwood illustrates the cruelty of the government when Aunt Lydia says, “‘For our purposes your feet and your hands are not essential’” (Atwood 91). For most of the handmaids, the risks outweigh the miniscule chance of escape. However, Moira does not give up and makes a second attempt to escape the center by tying up Aunt Elizabeth, taking her clothes, and pretending to be an aunt. She is again caught, and this time is considered too dangerous to be returned to the women’s center, and is therefore put in Jezebel’s, her only other option being the Colonies. While Offred idealizes Moira as someone who never loses hope, in Jezebel’s she sees that Moira seems to be stagnant and disparaging. “Have they really done it to her then, taken away something – what? – that used to be so central to her? And how can I expect her to go on, with my idea of her courage, live it through, act it out, when I myself do not?” (Atwood 249). Atwood increases the reader’s sympathy for Moira by showing the loss of her characteristic hope,

If some people are given benefits over others, they will be less likely to speak out against wrongdoing. In the Historical Notes, reflecting back on the events of Gilead, Crescent Moon notes that “As the architects of Gilead knew, to institute an effective totalitarian system or indeed any system at all you must offer some benefits and freedoms, at least to a privileged few, in return for those you remove” (308). This idea is also reflected in “I, Racist” by John Metta, when he questions whether the audience would speak out if another group was disadvantaged in a way that gave members of the audience small benefits. Sometimes speaking out is not in one’s own best interest, but from a moral standpoint should be done. Thus, a relevant theme to resisting oppression is the need to look beyond one’s own needs to see whether a system is systematically oppressing a group of people that might not be one’s